


Nighttime Photos

by Inches_Apart



Series: Young, Dumb, and Broke [2]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: College AU, Eddie's bad at getting his picture taken, M/M, Richie's in photography, and everything is poorly written, both are gay and go out on a date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 01:49:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13447956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inches_Apart/pseuds/Inches_Apart
Summary: Richie needs to nail his photography final.It's either do that or fail the class, and that's not something he wants to do.So when his teacher announces that the challenge of the final is to take a picture of something perfect, he knows exactly who he wants to be his model: Eddie Kaspbrak.Unfortunately for him, Eddie's a good awful model. He couldn't look natural to save his life.Richie's got a plan to fix that though.





	Nighttime Photos

**Author's Note:**

> I may have started this over Winter Break but I'm still going to blame the finals I had this week as the reason this sequel took so long to come out.
> 
> It's here now anyway so like
> 
> Yeah

“No, no, no, no, no!” The growing frustration in Richie’s voice was clear as day. He felt bad about getting upset with Eddie, but he was getting real sick of this. “I said act natural, Eddie. This is the opposite of natural! It’s so clearly posed a blind man could tell!” 

 

Eddie rubbed his temple, annoyed beyond belief. That seemed to be the number one emotion he felt around Richie: annoyance. He still liked the boy, a lot more than he probably cared to admit, but goddammit if he didn’t get on every single one of Eddie’s nerves. “‘Act natural, act natural, act natural!’ You sound like a broken fucking record! You can’t keep saying that without elaborating! I don’t see how anything I'm doing doesn’t look natural!”

 

The two boys glared at each other, eyes full of in-the-moment loathing. Right when it seemed like they were about to lunge at each other to rip out the other’s throat, the moment passed and they both looked away with heavy sighs. 

 

It was near the end of the semester and stress was in the air. Final’s were quickly approaching, and while winter break was just after that, all anyone felt was pure dread and misery. The two college boys felt a heavy emphasis on the latter as Eddie tried to help Richie out with his photography final the Friday night before their last week of school for the semester. 

 

Richie looked Eddie solidly in the eyes for a moment before glancing down at his beat-up shoes. “Look, I’m sorry about snapping it’s just this photo has to be flawless. If I fail this I fail the class, and that’s not going to be good.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. One of the first things Eddie had learned about Richie after the whole laundry fiasco, was that he loved camera, films, and photography. He was planning on becoming a filmmaker, and from what Eddie had seen, he definitely had an eye for the sort of stuff. He always knew what shot to get with what lightning and what position his subject should be in to naturally be focused on. Eddie was impressed, but the photography teacher at their university was not. This was leaving him stressed beyond belief, and that was, in turn, stressing Eddie out. 

 

Richie hadn’t told Eddie much about what his final project was supposed to be. He just said that his teacher gave them all a word and it was their job to go out and capture it. Minutes after his class got out, Richie had arrived knocking on the door of Eddie’s dorm room, demanding that he model for him. Eddie was very reluctant about agreeing, but Richie’s cute begging face was kind of hard to say no to. His annoyingly persistent asking was the hardest part to say no to though. 

 

Eddie wasn’t sure what exactly he was supposed to be doing, but Richie just told him to continue studying like he was and Richie would get his photo and everything would be fine and dandy. But the fact that Richie was there, sitting on Eddie’s bed behind him with a camera as he tried studying for his microbiology final, was beginning to stress him out. 

 

Richie was also getting annoyed. Eddie heard him snap a few photos as he read his textbook but Richie just sighed every time he saw how the photo turned out. He would give Eddie some comment on what he could do so Richie could get his photo, but the advice was always vague and unhelpful like ‘act natural’ or ‘pretend I’m not here.’ Eddie knew what he was going for, but the advice was hard to put into action. He was burningly aware of Richie watching him like a hawk and it was making him act even more unnatural than ever. 

 

“I know, I know. It’s just I don’t know what you want and you’re not exactly being helpful. I’m just studying! I don’t get how that looks unnatural…” Eddie grumbled, also looking at his shoes. 

 

“It’s just your shoulders look really tense and it’s making these photos look more like I’ve taken you hostage than anything else!” Richie flopped back onto the bed, distressed. 

 

“Look, Rich, I don’t think this is gonna work. Why don’t you just ask someone else to be your mo-“ 

 

“No!” Richie cut Eddie off quickly, sitting back up to stare him in the eye. “It has to be you.” His eyes were dead serious and his face was flushing red slightly. 

 

Eddie looked at him wearily. He had no clue what Richie’s idea was but he was dead set on going through with it. Eddie was tired of being constantly being criticized for how he was studying, but he did want to help him out still. He sighed rubbing his face. “Okay, well regardless, this setup isn't working, so what the fuck do you suggest, genius?”

 

Richie drummed his fingers on Eddie’s bed frame thoughtfully. "I believe that the biggest issue with you is that you're too self-conscious around cameras. I'm sure if you weren't aware that your picture was being taken, you'd look just fine."

 

"Yeah, well, you're right here and you're pretty hard to ignore. I'm not just going to forget the fact that you have a camera pointed at me."

 

"No, what we need is a distraction..." Richie trailed off, deep in thought. Suddenly, he smirked and glanced at Eddie. “Well,” he said, voice heavy with some bad accent, “hows about I take you out, eh? Just you, me, and the town, darling. We’ll go anywhere and everywhere.” He winked at Eddie. He knew Richie was referencing some old movie with his bad New York accent, but he had no clue which movie specifically. That was another thing Eddie had been surprised to learn about Richie. He loved old black and white movies more than anything else, and he had about two dozen of them memorized by heart, from A Streetcar Named Desire to It’s A Wonderful Life. 

 

Eddie couldn’t help but giggle at Richie’s bad accent. "You're brilliant idea is to take me out so you can get your picture?" Eddie looked at Richie dubiously. The other boy nodded his head enthusiastically and Eddie caved. “I should be studying, but I won’t be able to do that until this damn thing’s done, so you know what? Why the hell not. Let’s go out.” 

 

Richie jumped up with a cheer, pumping his fist in what he would probably call victory. “It’s a date then! Finally!” He then looked at Eddie, smiling his obnoxiously bright smile, and both boys suddenly looked away from each other, red-faced. 

 

Richie had basically asked Eddie out when he brought him back his laundry, but neither boy ever mentioned that fact ever again. They both just sort of… pretended it never happened as they got to know each other better. Sure, they both were pining for each other, and Richie never stopped flirting, but neither one of them ever made a move. They had been close a few times leading to rather awkward and tense situations, but nothing ever did happen. It seems Richie had finally made the first move by calling them going out to work in his photography final a date. 

 

“I mean,” Richie squeaked, “if you wanna call it a date then that’s fine with me.” His voice was a bit quiet. For all the talk he was, he’s never been in a relationship before, and was unnaturally shy and uncertain when it came to real intimacy. 

 

Eddie’s face burned. His mind screamed at him to say something flirty back to fluster Richie in revenge for all the times he’s purposely done that to him, but his brain was basically a dead pile of mush at the moment. “Yeah, that’s fine with me.” He managed to get out, coughing awkwardly at the end of his sentence. 

 

Richie was first to recover, quickly reverting back to pretending to be the charming movie character he was a few moments ago. “Well, what are you doing just sitting there then, sweetheart? Let’s go! Love waits for no one, and while we may have our whole lives for it, I’d like to start sooner rather than later.” 

 

Eddie slammed his textbook close, grabbing his keys and wallet off his nightstand as he gave Richie a little laugh. “What does that even mean?” 

 

“It doesn’t matter!” He shouted, his New York accent more atrocious than it originally was. “All that matters is that with you by my side, I could take on the whole world by myself.” The look he gave Eddie was surprisingly more loving than he expected Richie to have while joking around. It was gone in a flash, but it still left a funny feeling in Eddie’s chest. “Now let’s go! While the night is still as young as we are.” 

 

He grabbed Eddie’s hand, pulling him out of his room and down the hall. Richie may have been nearly a foot taller than he was, but Eddie had no problem keeping up with him. He was by his side following him step-for-step before they even reached the stairwell that would take them down to the ground floor. And yet, Eddie noticed Richie refused to let go of his hand. He didn’t really mind though. In fact, once they stepped outside and started heading downtown, Eddie pulled his arm to slow Richie down and slipped his fingers between the other boy's so they were properly holding hands. 

 

Richie, who was still rambling on about something in his bad accent, choked when he felt Eddie’s hand holding his. He glanced down at them quickly, eyes a bit wildly, before looking at Eddie. He had a pink tint on his face, and Eddie bet he probably had a matching blush on his own face. Eddie gave him a smile, and Richie quickly returned it. 

 

“Whoa, Eddie. I knew I was irresistible, but I’m still surprised that you can’t keep your hands off of me this early on. I figured we at least had an hour before you gave in completely to my charm.”

 

Eddie scoffed. “Wow, way to kill the moment.” He pried his hand off of Richie’s to cross his arms in mock annoyance. “And you technically grabbed my hand first, for the record.” 

 

“Wait, no,” Richie quickly grabbed Eddie’s hand again. “I was kidding. Please don’t take that seriously.” Richie mumbled something under his breath that Eddie missed. 

 

“What was that?” 

 

“I said I like holding your hand…” 

 

Eddie smiled to himself, gently squeezing Richie’s hand. The taller boy rolled his eyes slightly but squeezed Eddie’s hand in return before starting to gently swing their arms back and forth.

 

It was cold and cloudy outside and neither of them knew where they were going. It seemed that their feet were just taking them wherever. Eddie found himself not caring even though he was usually one to stress over plans to an absurd degree. It just felt nice for once to go out and do whatever without having to worry about school or deadlines for a little bit. He almost even forgot that they had only gone out to work on Richie’s photography final. He probably would have too if it weren’t for the obnoxious camera hanging around Richie’s neck. 

 

Richie, on the other hand, had some idea of where to go. When they walked the short distance from the university campus to the downtown portion of the town, he led Eddie by the hand across a few roads and down a few streets. Eddie had no idea where he was taking him, but he trusted Richie. Well, at least trusted him enough not to take them to a strip club or some back alley where they might get stabbed over the fifteen bucks the two of them probably had between them in their wallets. 

 

And to his infinite relief, neither of those places were where the two boys ended up. In fact, Eddie was rather surprised to see that Richie had dragged him down to the pier on the west side of town that ran parallel to the ocean, and he was even more surprised to see how beautiful it looked right now. 

 

Even though the night was still young, winter was quickly approaching and it was already twilight, quickly turning into dusk. The pier, to combat this growing darkness, was illuminated with lights twinkling from shops, lampposts, and strands of fairy lights that were put up everywhere. People milled about, talking and laughing and buying things that were for sale at the few shops and kiosks located along the pier. The water that they faced glowed and shimmered with the combined light of the dying sun and the few blossoming stars that shone in between the cracks of the clouds overhead. The air was fresh and salty and filled with the smell of something good cooking nearby. Eddie’s stomach grumbled as he remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything since before his morning class. 

 

Eddie was so swept up in awe at the sight of the pier that he didn’t notice Richie drop his hand and reach for his camera until he saw it flash as he took a picture of him. Eddie jumped slightly at the shutter of the lens and looked at Richie who didn’t even notice him as he looked intensely down at the photo his camera just captured.

 

“How’d it turn out?” At this point, Eddie was almost scared to ask. He knew if it was bad, Richie would keep taking pictures of him all night. Even though he did want Richie to do well on his final, at the moment he just wanted to spend time with him without worrying about tests and assignments and everything else school related. 

 

Richie clicked his tongue, eyebrows furrowed with what could only be described as mild distaste as he handed Eddie the camera to show him the picture. 

 

His first thought was ‘damn, that’s a nice-ass picture.’ The resolution was immaculate, capturing every fine detail with acute precision. Eddie was perfectly positioned in the photo too, leaving just enough background detail to look good without taking away from the focus on the main subject. Richie had captured the lighting just right to clearly illuminate everything within the shot. After giving it a second look over though, he realized why Richie didn’t seem happy with it: it appears that Eddie probably turned away from Richie right as he took the photo. Though his body was in the right position, his head was turned too far to the left, making the main focus on the photo’s subject Eddie’s ear and the back of his head and not his face like it was probably supposed to be.

 

“Oh jeez, Rich, sorry.” Eddie handed the camera back to Richie and couldn’t help but feel a little bad about ruining what could have been a really great picture. Given, he had no idea that Richie was, in fact, taking his picture, otherwise, he wouldn’t have turned away. But that was also the opposite of what they were trying to do. Eddie needed to look natural in the photo, and knowing that he needed to look that way made him look atrociously unnatural. 

 

Richie sighed good-naturedly as he slung the strap of his camera back around his neck. “It’s not your fault.” He quickly turned and gave him a beaming, cheerful smile that made Eddie’s chest feel warm and bright. “Guess we’ll just have to continue on with our date until I do get the right shot.” 

 

Eddie laughed. “You’re an absolute dork, Richie Tozier.”

 

“Why I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, Eddie Kaspback.”

 

“It’s ‘Kaspbrak,’ not ‘back.’”

 

“Is it now?”

 

“You’re a dipshit.”

 

“Right brak at ya, buddy.”

 

Eddie punched Richie lightly in the arm as he chuckled at his own joke. Richie really was a bit ridiculous. From his obnoxious glasses to his weird fashion choices to his absolutely terrible sense of humor that always made Eddie laugh for some reason. He supposed that’s probably why he liked him so much.

 

After pretending to recovery from the ‘injury’ Eddie inflicted on him, Richie made a big show of offering up his arm for Eddie to take. “Shall we go, my good sir? I believe even though we have arrived at its doorstep, the night is still waiting for us. We mustn’t keep it waiting!” He was doing his bad, old-timey New York accent again. Eddie was pretty sure he was acting out some scene from an old movie from the 50’s, but he had no clue which one, if any. 

 

He carefully looped his arm through Richie’s. “If you keep talking in that dumb accent, I’m leaving and you’ll have to find a new model. That accent is the worst thing I have ever heard, Richie.” 

 

“Fine,” Richie rolled his eyes slightly, dropping the accent, “you know you love it though.”

 

He kind of did. But he also would rather die than admit it so he just rolled his own eyes right back at Richie. “You fucking wish.”

 

Slowly, they began strolling casually down the pier, chatting and laughing at the jokes they made, stopping occasionally to look at something for sale in the window of a shop or see what a street vendor was offering. Eddie discovered the source of the delicious smell in the air to be fresh churros. He and Richie each bought one. They were warm and sweet, and that combined with the happiness he felt by being around Richie left his heart feeling giddy like he was having a really good daydream. It kind of was like what Eddie always imagined falling in love would feel like.

 

By the time the two of them had found the photo booth on the south end of the pier, the sun was completely gone from sight, leaving the sky a black void as clouds covered every inch of it. The night was cold, but Eddie hardly noticed it at the moment. Part of that probably had to do with the way Richie was leaning into his side.

 

“Eddie!” Richie shouted essentially right into his ear when he spotted the small photo booth, “Come on! Let’s get our picture taken!”

 

Eddie couldn’t help but laugh. Richie had a type of joy to him right now that was positively infectious. “I don’t know, Richie. I’m kind of tired of having my picture taken tonight.”

 

Richie slumped against Eddie, going limp and letting most of his weight rest on the smaller boy. “But it’s not just you getting your picture taken. I’d be getting my picture taken too! It’d be the two of us. Together. C’mon, Ed.”

 

Eddie struggled to push Richie off of him. “Get off, Rich, you’re too heavy.”

 

Richie adjusted himself to drape more of his weight over Eddie. “I will if you agree to do the photo booth with me.” He was pouting. Eddie knew he probably had that dumb look on his face, the one he does when he’s trying to convince Eddie to do something. The look where he quirks his eyebrows up, sticks his bottom lip out, and looks up like a begging dog that wants food. He looked dumb as shit when he made that face, but it was kind of a cute dumb. Though Eddie would, of course, never admit that to Richie. 

 

“Okay, fine! I’ll get my picture taken with you.” Richie cheered and Eddie couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he smiled. “Now get off of me before you destroy my spine, you big old lumbering behemoth.”

 

Richie laughed, straightening up and off of Eddie. “‘Behemoth?’ Please. It’s not my fault you’re the size of a Keebler elf.”

 

Eddie knows it was childish and would not help his case in the slightest, but he couldn’t help but stomp his foot down. “I’m not a fucking Keebler elf! You’re like the human equivalent of the Empire State Building.” 

 

Richie stepped in front of Eddie and bent down so his face was right in front of Eddie’s. When his eyes were only a few inches away from his own, Eddie noticed that Richie had flakes of gold in his brown eyes. They were beautiful. 

 

“You’re adorable, Eddie.” He reached out to pinch his cheek and Eddie instantly slapped his hand away. Both of their faces were tinted red. Richie straightened back up to his giant height and offered Eddie his hand. “Come on now, Eddie my boy. I believe a certain photo booth is just waiting to be graced by our gorgeous faces.”

 

Eddie snorted, grabbing Richie’s hand as they made their way over to the small booth. “‘Gorgeous?’ Please, Richie, I think you’re being a bit generous with yourself.”

 

“You’re right. I’m drop dead gorgeous. A twenty out of ten. You’re still positively breathtaking though, Eddie, don’t worry. Solid ten out of ten.”

 

Eddie’s face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. “A twenty out of ten? I’d have said you're about a seven on a really good day.” That was a lie. Eddie knew Richie was beyond the twenty be claimed to be. 

 

“Oof. Eddie, thoust wounds me so.” Richie was smiling right alongside Eddie though, squeezing his hand slightly. “I just wanted to think about how beautiful our children would be and here you go, shooting me down like this.” 

 

Eddie pulled on Richie’s arm to get him to stop walking right in front of so he could stand right in front of him. He could see Richie fighting back the smile so he could pretend to have been wounded by Eddie’s words like he claimed to be. That made Eddie smile even harder. 

 

“Okay, fine, Richie. You’re absolutely breathtaking. You may look dumb a lot of the time, with your trashy outfits and stupidly large glasses, but that doesn’t make you any less attractive in the slightest. You have really nice cheekbones, and really pretty eyes, and a stunning smile, and you’re just overall really beautiful.” Eddie wasn’t sure why he was saying these things. They were true, but that was a lot more intimate than he thinks he’s ever been. He also wasn’t sure what inspired him to do it, but he reached up and gently leaned Richie’s head down so he could press a kiss to his cheek. 

 

Both boys’ faces were so red they were probably glowing in the night. Richie’s mind short-circuited when Eddie kissed his cheek, and he currently had one of the dopiest looks on his face Eddie thinks he’s ever seen. It was adorable. 

 

The pier seemed miles away, and to the two of them, it felt like they were the only people on Earth. 

 

The moment passed, and Richie recovered his mojo. “I knew you couldn’t resist my dashing looks and incredible charm.”   
  


“Oh shut up, Rich. Come on. Let’s get our picture taken like you wanted.”

 

The photo booth was stupid small. The two boys struggled to completely get in the tiny box and it ended up with Eddie almost completely sitting on Richie’s lap. Eddie quickly shoved a dollar into the machine before Richie could make some cheeky comment about the situation they were in. Luckily for him, Richie was already too distracted by planning out how they should pose for the four pictures the booth would take. 

 

“Okay, the first one  _ needs  _ to be silly. That’s the universal law of photo booths. The next one can be a casual and genuine, two of us smiling picture. The third one definitely needs to be Charlie’s Angels. And the last one-”

 

“What the fuck is ‘Charlie’s Angels'?”

 

“I’m so disappointed in you, Eddie.”

 

“What!”

 

“I won’t make you watch the entire TV series, but we’re definitely watching the movie now. I swear, sometimes it’s like you have no culture at all.”

 

“Sorry I don’t spend all my time brainlessly watching TV and movies.”

 

“But this is Charlie’s Angels, Eddie. A classic.”

 

“Still have no idea what that is.”

 

“Ugh. Just turn so we’re back to back and make a finger gun. That’s all I ask of you. Surely even a simpleton with no culture like yourself can do that.”

 

“If anyone here is a simpleton, it’s you.”

 

“Mhm. Sure. Hey, Eddie, simpletonsaywhat?”

 

“What...? Oh, fuck you, Tozier. What are you, twelve?”

 

“Twelve inches long, baby.”   
  


“That’s fucking disgusting.”

 

“That’s not what your mother said last night.”

 

“Please. My mother wouldn’t say two words to such a crude individual as yourself.”

 

“You’re right. Plus, her mouth was too busy to be saying anyth-”

 

Eddie clapped his hands over his ears. “Lalalala, okay that’s enough. Please stop speaking or else I’m going to throw myself into the ocean. That was a mental image I never want to ever have again.”

 

Richie giggled to himself. He fucking  _ giggled _ . The sound was so pure and sweet and innocent that it simultaneously made Eddie want to throw up and put Richie in his pocket so he could protect him from all the evil in the world. 

 

Neither of them noticed that the photo booth has started until the first flash went off. Eddie jumped into surprise so hard he elbowed Richie and smacked the back of his head against the wall of the booth. The booth started counting backward from fifteen until the next photo would be taken.

 

“Oh shit,” Richie wheezed, grabbing his side, “I didn’t realize it started.” He sounded breathless and Eddie supposed he probably winded him when he elbowed the other boy in the gut. 

 

Eddie groaned, grabbing his head. “Fuck. I didn’t either.”

 

“Yeah, I noticed.” Richie sighed.

 

Another flash went off. These pictures were going terribly. 

 

“Okay, this was a rough and painful start, but we can fix this. Come on, Eds, we can still do funny faces.” 

 

“I kind of just want to die right now,” Eddie mumbled, still rubbing the back of his head. 

 

“That’s no way to act! Smile!” 

 

_ Richie sure recovered from being elbowed in the gut quickly,  _ Eddie thought. 

 

The other boy probably picked up on the fact that Eddie was not going to do the same before the photo booth ended, and decided to take action into his own hands.

 

Right as the countdown neared zero, Richie reached out, and to Eddie’s infinite horror,  _ tickled him _ . 

 

Eddie’s body reacted naturally to the feeling of Richie’s fingers tickling his sides, and the pain of his head was momentarily forgotten as he let out a high pitched shriek of laughter. Eddie would have been horrified by the sound he just made if he wasn’t already busy being  _ horrified _  by the fact that Richie was  _ tickling him _ .

 

The flash went off and Richie stopped tickling him, moving his arm to instead wrap itself around Eddie’s shoulders, pulling him into his side. Eddie wanted to shove the prick away because tickling was essentially an unforgivable sin, but his mind went dead when it realized how close he was to Richie.

 

“Last one, Eds, we gotta make it count! Silly face!” Eddie was ready to give Richie the small piece of his mind that was still functioning because he was still slightly peeved about being tickled. But once again, Richie must have been thinking a few steps ahead of Eddie. He leaned over and kissed Eddie’s cheek very briefly before the countdown hit zero, and yup. He probably had a very silly look on his face right about now. 

 

Eddie wasn’t able to notice the last camera flash going off. He didn’t notice Richie go through the final few options about what their photos would look like. He hardly even noticed that Richie was waiting for him to get off his lap so they could go out and get their photos that were being printed out. His mind was off somewhere drifting down a stream because  _ Richie Tozier just kissed him _ . 

 

Well, kissed his cheek. Something that Eddie did to him only moments ago. But he was still caught blissfully off guard by Richie doing the same thing back to him. Eddie briefly wondered if they would do more kissing later on and he felt his face redden at the thought. 

 

A tap on his shoulder brought his attention back down to Earth. Richie was smirking at him and Eddie already knew he wasn’t going to like what the fucker was about to say. 

 

“As much as I love any and all situations involving you sitting on my lap, I much rather go see how our photos turned out.” 

 

It wasn't as crude a comment as he was expecting Richie to make, but it still made him blush and scramble off the taller boy’s lap and out of the photo booth. The night was growing colder and a freezing breeze was blowing off the ocean and down the pier. Eddie shivered, wishing he thought to bring something warmer than his college hoodie. 

 

Richie, who still seemed to be a few steps ahead of Eddie, followed him out of the booth and politely took his jacket off and draped it over Eddie’s shoulders. When he looked up at Richie, he was already waving his hand dismissively. “I’m flattered, but don’t worry about me, sweetheart. My looks are hot enough to keep me warm on this cold winter night.”

 

Eddie scrunched his face up and scoffed. “Sure, Richie. Sure.” He carefully slipped his arms through the sleeves of Richie’s jacket. It was rather heavy and a few sizes too big for him, but it was warm and had the familiar smell of musky cologne and cigarette smoke that Eddie’s come to associate with Richie. He quickly realized Richie was still looking at him and had probably noticed he was smelling his jacket so he mumbled a fast ‘thank you’ and grabbed the two strips of pictures the photo booth just printed to distract him. He handed Richie the second strip and looked down at the remaining one he held in his hand. Instantly, his heart took off on a roller coaster of emotions.

 

For starters, while Eddie was still busy being distracted by the fact Richie just kissed him, the other boy had selected a border for the photos that was covered in red cartoon hearts and had the word ‘soulmates’ written in cursive at the top. His own heart skipped a beat at the sight of all the little ones on the photos. 

 

The next thing he noticed was how beautiful Richie looked in the first photo. His nose was scrunched up and his eyes were closed as he laughed. His smile was beaming and Eddie felt his breath stop as well as his heart.

 

Eddie, on the other hand, looked like someone had hit the back of his head with a shovel so hard he no longer knew where he was. That was kind of what he felt like anyways. Richie giggling like that was something he was not expecting in the slightest. 

 

The second photo was a hot mess. 

 

Richie’s eyes and nose were still scrunched, but this time it was in pain instead of joy. His hands were gripping his right side, right where Eddie elbowed him. Wonderful. Luckily for him though, his own face in the photo was mostly blocked out by the arm he had brought up to rub the back of his head. He kind of forgot he hit it. As soon as the thought returned to him he realized his head still was in pain. He did hit it pretty damn hard.

 

In the next photo, Eddie thought he kind of looked like a weasel crying out in pain as Richie tickled him. Richie, on the other hand, still looked absolutely gorgeous. He had such a happy and pure smile on his face, it briefly made Eddie forget that that smile was caused by the sick joy the other boy probably felt as he tortured Eddie. He decided that his beautiful smile could act as payment to make up for the tickling. He would excuse Richie’s actions just this once. Any other future tickling would be met full force with the entirety of Eddie’s wrath. That wrath may not have been a lot, probably about the size of a kitten when it came to Richie, but all be damned if this kitten’s claws couldn’t do some damage. Eddie mentally scolded his mind for thinking of himself as a kitten. 

 

The final photo on the strip made Eddie laugh. Richie said silly faces, and that’s exactly what he got. Richie, after kissing Eddie’s cheek, had turned to face the camera, crossed his eyes, cocked his eyebrows, and stuck his tongue out as he made the most absurd looking smile Eddie’s ever seen. It was a rather cute photo of Richie. Eddie didn’t even look completely terrible in this photo. Well, not as terrible as he looked in every other photo at least. His mouth was open and eyes were a bit wide as they looked at Richie with an awe as intense as if he had just witnessed him put the stars in the sky. His face was tomato red, but he still thought the picture was very endearing in what was probably a silly way. It made him smile to himself as he remembered the feeling for Richie kissing him.

 

He carefully tucked the strip of photos into the pocket of his college hoodie so he would lose them or forget them in Richie’s jacket. When he turned back to Richie, he was met with a blinding flash as Richie took another picture of him with the camera he held in his hands.

 

“Ah, Jesus, Rich!” Eddie rubbed his eyes to try to clear them of the spots that plagued his sight. 

 

“Whoops. Sorry, Eddie. You looked really cute and I saw it as an opening and took it. I guess I was a bit slow with the execution yet again though.” Richie clicked his tongue. 

 

Eddie waved his hand, blinking as he continued to try and clear up his eyes. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Once his vision cleared, he looked up and gave Richie a smile of reassurance. The other boy smiled back down at him. 

 

That was then that a small snowflake landed on Eddie’s nose. 

 

Eddie crossed his eyes to look stare at the flake on his nose and saw that Richie was also looking at it. It slowly melted on his nose and Eddie moved his eyes to look at Richie’s. They shrugged at each other. Eddie then noticed that he could make out a few flakes in Richie’s hair. He squinted into the darkness to try and see if he could tell if it really was snowing or not. Deciding it was way too fucking dark to see anything in the endless void of the night sky, Eddie moved over to a nearby streetlamp to see better. 

 

Under the light of the lamppost, Eddie was able to clearly see the dainty trickle of snow that was making its way down to the ground from the sky. It was light, not thick enough to stick to the ground, but it was also just the beginning. He hoped that as the night grew on the flakes would increase in size until they actually had snow on the ground. It was unlikely to be anything bigger than an inch or so, but something was still better than nothing. And this something was definitely beautiful as it swirled down lazily. Eddie was so captivated by the snowfall, that he didn’t notice Richie had once again aimed his camera at him until he heard the shutter of a photo being taken.

 

He looked over at Richie quickly, eyes wide with surprise. He had forgotten Richie even had his camera in the surprise of seeing snow. He had been so caught up in the moment that it had simply slipped his mind. He stared expectantly at the other boy. 

 

“Well?” He prompted Richie, “How’d it turn out?”

 

Richie was dead silent, staring at the small screen on the back of the camera. He carefully observed every square inch of the photo, trying to engrave it into his retinas.

 

He had caught Eddie in the best lighting possible. The lamppost just slightly visible on the right side of the frame, in the same direction Eddie was facing, which made his face light up brilliantly. The pale freckles on his face were as clear as day. Richie could even make out the constellations they formed on his cheeks, which were tinted a slight red. And his eyes. Richie could go on about how Eddie’s eyes looked for days. The warm brown of his eyes was enhanced by the light, and he could have sworn there were bits of green visible within them in the photo. They were positively breathtaking. Speaking of breath, Eddie’s was visible in a small puff right in front of his face, proof of the cold night the picture was captured in. In addition to that, the small drops of falling snow also made that point quite nicely. The angle of the light made them visible and easy to see against the dark backdrop of the night sky. Richie could even see a few flakes resting gently on Eddie’s cheekbones and tangled up in his eyelashes. The photo he had just captured was a true picture of joy and amazement. Wonder and bliss. It was gorgeous, absolutely stunning. It was…

 

“Perfect.” Richie’s voice was no more than a quiet exhale. “It’s absolutely perfect, Eddie. You’re perfect”

 

Eddie’s face gradually reddened. He smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. “Ah jeez, Rich, no need to spoil a guy any more than you already have.”

 

“No, seriously, Eddie,” Richie tore his eyes away from the camera to look at him, “It’s beautiful.” He paused for a second. “You’re beautiful.”

 

Eddie’s body both froze and turned to jelly at the same time. He wasn’t sure who moved first, he’s pretty sure he took a stumbling step forward, but suddenly he and Richie were right in front of each other, faces nearly touching. His heart was beating a thousand miles an hour in his chest, and if it wasn’t for fog forming on Richie’s glasses because he was breathing on them, he would have been certain his lungs forgot how to function. Eddie tentatively laid a hand on Richie’s chest and felt that his heart was beating just as fast as his own. 

 

“That was the word, you know.” The taller boy said, and Eddie felt as though he had to strain to hear Richie’s voice, even though he was speaking only inches from his ears. His mind felt like it was miles away from here as it overloaded with a giddiness and anticipation he’s not quite sure he’s ever experienced before. “The word was ‘perfect,’ and I think I’ve finally found it.”

 

Eddie was sure if his body was working properly, blood would have rushed to his face or something. At the current moment though, all it could do was soak up the warmth that radiated off of Richie. After a moment he managed to wrangle enough brain cells in working condition together to speak back. “Shut up and kiss me already.” He felt as though future Eddie would cringe at what he just said, but at the moment, that’s all he felt.

 

Richie tilted his head forward, resting his forehead against Eddie’s, lips just an inch away from each other. “I’ve never kissed anyone,” Richie felt like his future self would’ve kicked him over how stupid he sounded, but his mind felt like it had short-circuited again and was now on fire and he had no clue what to do about that. Richie felt Eddie grin against his lips and the fire within his brain went from a small house fire to an all-out wildfire.

 

“That’s okay.” Eddie’s voice was so small he wasn’t sure if he actually said any words of just moved his mouth like he was going to say them. “I haven’t either.”

 

“Awesome,” was all Richie said before he moved to close the distance. 

 

The first thing that happened when he did, was their noses awkwardly pressed together. Richie tilted his head and tried again. This time, their noses were fine, except for the fact Richie’s glasses painfully pressed down onto Eddie’s face. Eddie huffed, grabbing the glasses off Richie’s facing and folding them up carefully to tuck into the front pocket of Richie’s flannel. Right as Eddie leaned back in to try kissing Richie again, the other boy smiled and laughed a bit, causing his teeth to nick slightly at Eddie’s bottom lip as he hurriedly tried to close his mouth again. The small boy let out a slight hiss of pain, bring a hand up to lay a finger on the afflicted part of his lip. It wasn’t bleeding, and both boys took it as a sign to try again.

 

This time, they were finally in sync, lips pressing together just right. For Eddie, he saw fireworks and was able to taste the cherry flavoring of Richie’s chapstick. For Richie, he felt an intense warmth bloom in his chest at the contact and was able to smell the clean scent of soap that lingered around Eddie. Both future versions of the boys would agree that there was only one word that could be used to describe their first kiss.

 

_ ‘Perfect.’ _   
  


 

**Author's Note:**

> Does Richie get an A on his photography final? Does Eddie ever get around to studying for his own finals? I don’t know. Find out next time. Maybe. Probably not. IDK
> 
>  
> 
> I just made this a series so now I feel obligated to make more but at the same time, I only have like maybe 25% of an idea for something else to write. If you want more leave a comment saying what you’d like to read next if the College Adventures of Eddie and Richie.
> 
> Please feel free to leave comments or hit me up at https://the-barrens-are-ours.tumblr.com/
> 
> Thanks for reading, folks!


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